Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-01-06
Sanitary Burial.

Of the eight principal methods of
burial, four are ancient and four modern.
ILLUMINATION, burning, embalming, and
storing las in catacombs, vaults, etc. J
are Of course old as the world itself
Within few years have been added
cremation. cementation, electro plating,
and what may be termed Cooking"
The four moter methods are an out.
come of the effort to obtain the advan-
tages of the ancient methods while
obviating their disadvantages. Thus
cremation is of cours SO the ancient funeral
pyre in modern guise, but without its
publicity, length of time, and other un.
pleasant concomitants.
Cooking" is similar, but differs in this
the body is not burned, but exposed to
such an intense fiameless heat as to re.
duce it to hard brittle substance much
resembling coke. This is akin in its
results to embalming, but without it's
great expense.
Cementation and electro.plating are
modern Improvements on the ancient
catacombs, rock. tombs, etc. Such dis.
posal of the dead of course involved
certain natural conditions seldom found
near great cities. These substitutes
reach better results, Independent of
locality, and at an expense which may
be made merely nominal.
Concentration is merely the hermetical
sealing Of the coffin by thick coat of
the finest cement all round. The coffin
may be of any material, the best of
course being metal. In this way the
escape of gases is reduced to minimum
aud all the advantages of sarcOphagus
are obtained without lis expense.
Electro-plating is essentially the ap.
plication of pefe,tly even metallic
coating to the entire body by the same
process which produces an electrotype
plate. The effect obtained is beautiful.
The repulsive corpse is transformed into
a glistening statue of bronze, gold, or
other metal; form, features, and express.
sion even, being preserved. Hermeti.
cally sealed by this metallic shell, putre.
faction is impossible. and the body
merely mummifies.
The process in brief is this: the body
is washed with alcohol and sprinkled
over with fine graphite powder to insure
the ready>conduction of electricity, it is
then placed in bath of metallic solution
containing o piece of the metal to be
| used. To this is attached the positive
pole of strong battery, the negative
pole is applied to the body, and at once
fine film Of metal begins to cover the
body perfectly and evenly. This may be
continued until the coating attains any
desired thickness.
This is not mere theory, but fact.
More than eleven human corpses have
been treated by this method, and samples
of its results were on exhibition at the
Paris Exposition of 1881 and 1885.
Up to date. electro.plating seems to
be the method. 1t is sanitary, cheap,
highly e .sthetic, and avoidsone great OBJ.
lection which can be validly urged
against cremation, that it gives oppor.
tunity for the defeat of Justice by de.
stroying the evidence of crime.
The expense is slight, and in Opera.
tions on large scale could be much
further reduced. This would, of course,
depend largely ON the metal used. A
millionaire could afford to leave himself
in golden statu quo for the admiration
of his quarreling family; silver would
doubtless come within the means OF
plumbers and real estate men. brass
would be quite the thing for politic'
ians, insurance men, aud such, while tin
would be good enough for editors and
other poor but honest folk.-Sanitars
Era